The Crow: Wait and Bleed
by The Reaper
Summary: I've felt the hate rise up in me.
1. Default Chapter Title

The Crow: Wait and Bleed

Life

"How many times more will you see the full moon? How many times will you remember a certain afternoon in your childhood that without it, your entire life will be meaningless. Maybe five or six times more. We take everything for granted."

-Brandon Lee

The guns were pointed at their heads. Emily lay on the floor crying and Joseph was stood up against the wall, a gun to his temple. The man holding the gun taunted Joseph and teased him. "If you move mother fucker, you and the bitch get it." And Joseph wept. He studied the room and he saw the corpses of his children laying there. Bullet wholes decorated their skulls. And he wept more.

Emily was on the brink of death as she cried and coughed blood. The men that had killed and destroyed his family were rampaging through the house. They were part of a major gang. But it was a random killing. An innocent family, slaughtered. One woman was dying, four kids dead, and a fire of anger grew within one man's soul. "Please leave us alone." Emily cried out. 

"SHUT THE FUCK UP BITCH!!!" the man screamed as he ran from Joseph and kicked her in the face. She fell to her back and he pointed the gun at her. "Prepare to say a big what's up to God, bitch!" He cocked the gun.

"NOOOOO!!!!!" Joseph said as he ran across the room and tackled the man. With every bit of strength he had he put rage into his fists. He swung and he swung, until he heard the crack. The gun cracked as it fired. And he felt a sharp sting in his back. He fell backwards with his last breath he spoke the word "Emily." And he began to loose the ability to speak. As his vision slowly died he saw as they put a gun to Emily's head and pulled the trigger. He watched as his love died. And everything went black. 

TO BE CONTINUED….

THE REAPER


	2. The Crow: Wait and Bleed (Death)

The Crow: Wait and Bleed 

The Crow: Wait and Bleed 

Death

_"To die will be an awfully big adventure."_

-_James M. Barrie, Peter Pan_

_ _

_ _

__Joseph lay there shuddering in the coolness of black nothing. He looked around himself and saw nothing. There was nothing. Around him there was simply blackness and emptiness. He was cold and blood poured down from his shirt. He looked down and saw the pale of blood that grew in the floor. But he couldn't find the wound. He could feel nothing. He couldn't feel any of the shot wounds. He couldn't feel any pain. Oh thank god! It must have been a dream, a nightmare. That's all it was, one big nightmare. He would go upstairs and kiss his loving wife, and he would go tell his kids that he loved them. "Emily." Joseph called out, but there was no answer. Silence was the only response he received. "Emily," he called out again. But there was still no answer. He gathered his strength and stood, "Emily! Where are you?!" and then it happened. 

A whisper filled the empty, desolate, vastness. "Emily's not here." 

"What?"

"Emily's gone."

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"Sit."

"What?"

"Sit," and out of nowhere something pushed Joseph down, but he saw nothing. There was nothing there, but something pushed him. 

"What are you? Who are you?"

"You know who I am."

"No I don't. Who are you?"

"Joseph, you know."

"How did you know my name? Who are you?! FUCKING TELL ME!"

"It's on the tip of your tongue." And the whisper grew into a low, deep, booming voice. "Just say it." And a cloaked figure stepped out of the darkness. His face couldn't be seen, but his hands were a ghastly pale, and his cloak was entirely black. 

"Who are you?" Joseph asked sobbing.

"I am…" and the cloaked figure looked up and Joseph could see his pale white face. Joseph could see the emptiness of his eyes, and the crimson of his lips. "I am Death." 

TO BE CONTINUED….

THE REAPER 


	3. The Crow: Wait and Bleed (Purpose)

The Crow: Wait and Bleed 

The Crow: Wait and Bleed 

Purpose

_"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, but in what direction we move."_

-_Oliver Wendell Holmes _

_ _

_ _

Joseph trembled in fear before the huge figure that hovered above him. "That's right Joseph, it's on the tip of our tongue. Just say it."

"I'm dead." Joseph said in a faint and weak whiper.

"And…" the figure said.

"You are death." Joseph said as tears began to pour from his eyes. 

"Good job Joseph. Now prepare for some painful pictures. Close your eyes Joseph." Joseph fell back to the floor and lie there sobbing and slowly closed his eyes. "You were slaughtered." And like a mighty river, the thoughts flowed back into his head. He remembered what had happened. "Your children were killed. Your wife was beaten and raped." 

The sadness in Joseph's heart collided with anger and pain until he could take it no longer. "NNNNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!! STOP IT!!!!!" 

"Good, you are angry." The dark figure said. "That's what I want. Get angry. Get angrier. Vengeance. That's what comes next Joseph, vengeance. Make them pay, make them suffer. Make them suffer like you have. There are eight souls that you must reap for me Joseph. I will grant you life, for a short period of time. You will live for one week. During that week you will take their lives unmercifully just like they did to you. You must be warned though Joseph. You will be invincible to any of their weapons except for two. The only things that will defeat you are fire and sunlight. You will be cloaked with the face of night, and you will be my reaper. Go forth Joseph. Justice is death, and death is what you make it. Now go and set the wrong things right."

Joseph stood to his feet and closed his eyes. The dark figure opened his cloak and a darkness consumed Joseph. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere, Joseph stood in front of his own grave. 

TO BE CONTINUED…

THE REAPER 


	4. The Crow: Wait and Bleed (Memory)

The Crow: Wait and Bleed 

The Crow: Wait and Bleed 

The Memory

_ _
    
    _"__"Come__ as you are, as you were, as I want you to be._
    
    _As a friend, as a friend, as an old enemy. Take your time, hurry up,_
    
    _the choice is __yours, don't be late. Take a rest, as a friend as an old memory."_

-_Kurt Cobain _

_ _

_ _

Joseph stared at the tombstone with his name inscribed in it, and he began to weep. He burst into tears as he read his own dates. He cried and screamed out to God why this happened to him. He was distracted from the paleness of the stone by a large black crow which gracefully landed on the grave. It gave a powerful caw and the bewildered Joseph screamed, "What the fuck do you want?" 

"Everything." A deep voice said. Joseph turned around and then it was that he heard the sound of spurs hitting rocks. He looked behind him and he saw a dark figure. There he was, a man dressed in all black stood before Joseph. He wore black leather pants. He wore a black-buttoned shirt, black cowboy boots, a long black trench coat, and a black cowboy hat. Joseph could only see the top of his hat, until the man lifted up his face. Then she saw his face. It had been painted white and black. There were black lines running down from his eyes and they ran up from them as well. His lips were painted black with lines making a smile. Joseph stared into his empty, plain white, grim eyes. Joseph noticed the grim cowboy's long black hair tucked behind his hair. The dark buckaroo smiled. "He wants everything, including you." He laughed as he quickly drew his gun and shot Joseph in the chest.

"Aghhhhhhhh!!!!" Joseph screamed as he saw the bullet coming towards him. In his eyes he saw something else. Another time flashed before his eyes. He saw himself lying on the floor as someone shot at his love. "DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed. He opened his eyes which had been sealed with his own tears. He looked and saw the Grim Cowboy holding a still smoking gun. Joseph looked down to his chest; where he had been shot and witnessed a bullet wound magically heal. "What the hell?" Joseph fell to his knees in painful memory. 

Joseph remembered a long time ago, when him and his girlfriend lay on a grassy bank and gazed up at the stars. He remembered holding Emily; his only love, tight in his arms. He remembered her faint whisper, "I love you Joseph." He remembered his own reply, "We'll always be together." As he repeated this aloud, the Grim Cowboy only laughed. Joseph screamed to the top of his lungs, "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" 

Joseph cried again as he remembered another time. He remembered kneeling down before her, right in front of her parents. "Emily," Joseph said, "I love you more than anything, and I never want to be separated from you. Emily, will you marry me?" He looked up at her as she smiled and cried and nodded. "Yes." He put the ring on her finger leaped up and kissed her. "I love you Joseph," Emily said. "We'll always be together," Joseph replied. 

Joseph began to rant and cry "We'll always be together." As he felt the ring on his finger. His closed again dripping with tears as he saw himself in a hospital holding his first born baby. "I love you," He said to his wife. "Look at him," Emily said, "Isn't he beautiful." Joseph cried, "It's my son." 

This image repeated itself three times. Once more with a boy and twice with a girl. Joseph cried for his lost family and saw one last image. He saw as he fell down in a puddle of blood. He saw the corpses of his murdered children, the image of his beaten wife. He heard his last words. "I love you. We'll always be together Emily." And he saw himself drift away. 

"NOOOOO!!!!!!" Joseph cried out as he fell into the dirt becoming soggy from the now pouring rain. He put his face in his hands and didn't care at all about the Grim Cowboy, now propped up against a tree. He cried and sobbed and called out their names. "Greg. Lisa. Alex. Becca. Emily." 

The Grim Cowboy made sure he was underneath the shade of the tree and lit his cigarette. He spoke calmly, "Now we're getting somewhere."

TO BE CONTINUED…

THE REAPER 


	5. The Crow: Wait and Bleed (Shadow)

                                             The Crow: Wait and Bleed 

                                                  Chapter Five: 

                                        Shadow:

                                 _"And when I stop and think of spring,_

_                                 All the joy your love would bring._

_                                 Then I'll be remembering, _

_                                 The Shadow of your smile."_

_                                                     -Frank Sinatra_

Joseph closed his eyes. When he opened them he was somewhere else. Something had happened, and he didn't quite understand it. He lay in the middle of a street. He lay flat on his back and he sat up and looked toward an alleyway. "What the Hell am I doing here?"

                    "You shall see," said the skull cowboy as he appeared from nowhere. Joseph looked over to him and he saw the Cowboy standing beside a wall. "You shall see," the cowboy leaned back onto the wall and lit his cigarette. 

                       "I still don't know who the hell you are," Joseph began to protest as he got up, but he was stopped. He was stopped by a deafening sound that rang through his ears as he clutched them and fell to a knee in pain. "What the hell was that?" he asked the cowboy when the pain subsided. 

                      "Go see for yourself," the cowboy responded motioning to the alley. 

                       Joseph slowly began to walk into the alley way and he could feel the cowboy walking closely behind him. Joseph peered down the dark alley and saw two figures, a man and a bleeding woman. The man huddled over the woman as he beat her, raped her, and made her scream. Each scream echoed as a painful memory in Joseph's mind. He stared at the girl's face, not knowing what to do. There he saw. He saw the face of his beloved Eimly. She was smiling but that smile faded into a shadow of pain and sorrow. And then the man noticed Joseph.

                      "Get the fuck out of here man!" he screamed, but Joseph stared at her face and paid no attention to the man. He didn't even hear the man. "Get the fuck out of here I said!!! FINE YOU KNOW WHAT FUCKER???!!!!!" The man said as he began to walk towards Joseph, releasing his grasp of the woman.

                      As the woman fell she said "Help me," and reached out for Joseph. Then her head hit and poured blood as she began to loose her life. 

                    Joseph turned right before the man had reached him. He had been asked to help. The man had found a beer bottle and broken it. "FUCKER!!!" The man screamed as he buried it into Joseph's chest.

                     Joseph looked down at the beer bottle plunged into his chest and then looked back at the man who had put it there. Joseph grabbed the neck of  the bottle, and as he jerked it out, used the back of his hand to hit the scared criminal and knock him to the ground. "What the HELL ARE YOU?" the scared man asked. 

                    Joseph, "One hell of a nightmare." Joseph said as he kicked the man in the face and proceeded to stab the man to death with the bottle. Joseph dipped his fingers into the blood of his first victim, and place them above his eyes. He came straight down and formed almost ritual paintings. He came to his lips and formed almost a mock shadow of a smile.

                    And as the skull cowboy watched on he couldn't help but comment, "Oh Hell yeah."

             TO BE CONTINUED 

                                                        THE REAPER 


End file.
